hello...

[Bertyboy]

So glad I found this site. Great to be able to share experiences of e-biking and ask all those questions that have been racking up!
Spent my youth competitive trials riding up in Yorkshire, moved down south and bought my first mountain bike back in '85! ( Saracen Conquest) and been riding on the Downs ever since. First tried an e-mtb last Oct up in the Lakes. Bought my wife one soon after, and took delivery of mine beginning of May this year. Hope to contribute to the forum a little when I've got something relevant to share! Cheers, BB

 

[topographer]

Is tha from Bradford? That seems to be–or seemed to be–the epicentre of trials riding. I loved watching Kick Start on telly as a kid. Don't know why they took it off, it's a very telegenic sport. Now they want us to watch women's rugby, huh. Welcome.

 

[Bertyboy]

Haha. Thanks. We lived on North Yorks moors so I rode mainly Richmond club plus Northallerton and Thirsk. Yes, Kick Start was essential watching (partucularly Junior Kickstart!)

 

[topographer]

Haha. Thanks. We lived on North Yorks moors so I rode mainly Richmond club plus Northallerton and Thirsk. Yes, Kick Start was essential watching (partucularly Junior Kickstart!)

I grew up in Northallerton. Well, from 8-25 anyway. The moor above Osmotherly was a popular local beauty spot to go on a summer weekend.

 

[Bertyboy]

so you'll know Sheepwash then? My old training ground!

 

[topographer]

Yeah, that's where I was referring to. I'd forgot the name until you reminded me. I have happy childhood memories of picnics by the beck.

 

[Bertyboy]

Me too. We lived nearby, spent most of my time up there riding old push bikes down the Roman road into the water splash. Would be nice to take the ebike up there now!
Guess you went to the Allertonshire school too then!

 

[topographer]

I'd heard of a Roman road but don't think I actually saw it or went on it. I didn't really have the opportunity to explore much. Me and some other boys cycled from allerton to Sheepwash a couple of times but after going up that hill on a single speed BMX we were knackered. One winter, a friend decided to walk on the ice on the frozen reservoir despite my strong warnings. He didn't drown.

Yeah, I went to that school, '80-'84 I think. P'tang Yang Kipperbang. The steps on the east side got hammered a lot by me and my BMX after school. Were you one of that horde of kids who had to get bussed in from the villages? I was grateful I wasn't one of them.

 

[Bertyboy]

Yes I was one of those bus w@nkers
But when the bus couldn't get up Winton Bank in the snow and we missed a day at school it didn't seem so bad. Finished in '80 so just before you. Havent been up that way for years now. We usually head over to the lakes if we go up north.

 

[Bertyboy]

Anyway. Nice to meet another Northallertoner on the site! BB

 

[topographer]

Anyway. Nice to meet another Northallertoner on the site! BB

I'll say one thing about the place. Now that I've been away from it for so long (only been back twice), and got older, I see it more objectively as a nice, attractive little town. Growing up there I just thought it was a useless dead end town in the middle of nowhere. I remember relatives visiting from New Zealand saying they were going to look at Thirsk because it was listed as an historic town. I thought 'what, historic? there's nothing there, it's rubbish!' But I get it now, it's an 18th century cobbled square (I think). Didn't appreciate those things as a kid. You don't know what you've got until it's gone.

 

[Bertyboy]

Hah! That's true.
My parents used to drag me to Thirsk most Saturday afternoons. I thought it was a dump because it didn't have a good record shop. You don't appreciate cobbles when you're 15!